Lea Michele, Lily Collins, Diane Kruger and many more celebrities and fashion folk attended a runway show and tea at the Chateau Marmont on Wednesday afternoon. It was all to showcase the work of the 10 designer finalists in the 2013 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition.

Booth Moore, Los Angeles Times Fashion Critic

Lena Dunham, Lily Collins, Diane Kruger, Lea Michele, Jessica Pare, Victoria and David Beckham, and many more descended on the Chateau Marmont on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate up-and-coming fashion talent, the 10 designer finalists of the 2013 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.

Vogue magazine editor-in-chief Anna Wintour hosted the runway show and tea, which brought together a who's who of Hollywood and American fashion, including Reed Krakoff, J.Crew's Jenna Lyons and Neiman Marcus fashion director Ken Downing, all judges in this year's competition.

In its 10th year, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition culminates in a $300,000 prize, and $100,000 prizes each for two runners-up. The winner will be announced Nov. 11.

For years, Los Angeles was mostly ignored by the New York-based fashion industry, dogged with a reputation for being more a manufacturing town for down-market denim and T-shirts, than a center for design creativity.

But that has changed over the last decade with the rise of more artisanally focused Los Angeles luxury labels, and the importance of the celebrity-fashion connection. The local community has been embraced by Vogue magazine in particular, with a story in the September issue declaring Los Angeles the coolest city on the planet.

Last year's Vogue/Fashion Fund winner was Greg Chait of the L.A.-based luxe boho cashmere brand Elder Statesman, and Jennifer Meyer, the L.A.-based jewelry designer who is married to Tobey Maguire, was a runner-up.

"L.A. is definitely having a fashion moment," said Mark Holgate, fashion news director at Vogue. I asked him what he thinks unites the designers working here. "They have a pioneering spirit, because there is not a lot of support in L.A., and not as much of a sense of community. What unites them is dedication, ambition and drive," he said. "There's also a level of emotion and care, from A.L.C.'s Andrea Lieberman exploring what it means to have a made-in-L.A. contemporary label headquartered downtown, to Greg Chait and the extended family of people he has knitting his things for Elder Statesman."

Also in the running for this year's prize, New York-based Misha Nonoo showed her painterly separates on the runway; Veronica Beard designers Veronica Miele and Veronica Swanson showed scuba-inspired sportswear.